Past the equinox ( Autumn 2)

Past the equinox (Autumn 2)

Leaves curl, crisp,
fall
till trees are bare, cat's cradle where the low-slung sun
now on, now off
sends out its light-house beam.
All change for the world in autumn
past the equinox
geese in a vee
swifts in a swirl
heeding the lure of the south
leaf, grief
day of the dead
time to remember and mourn
tears for the dear, nevermore here
this long time gone home.
Mists of the morning, hung in a shroud
as lovely days grow chill
October, November
remember, remember,
leaves curl, crisp,
fall.

October 17th 2013, Brighton

Morning Glory ( Autumn 1)

Morning Glory ( Autumn 1)

This week's story, morning glory
glory be! Is martins wheeling, 
flock convening, readying perhaps
in skies all brilliant and backlit
by low October sun, mackerel
as rippled sand on shore

Autumn story, days of glory
see, the season flames and glows
scarlet, carmine, orange embers
shot of beauty we'll remember
when the world has tipped and chilled

October 16th 2013, Brighton

Amsterdam shone

Amsterdam shone

Amsterdam shone 
in tumbled kaleidoscope squares 
lit by October sun

Canals in curves, concentric
confused with a lattice of lines, for bikes and 
buses, trams


The dark and the light
shadows and bright 
caught in the masters' oils;
women in windows 
with a letter, a jug;
luminous, behind the dun and umber
Van Gogh's Potato Pickers;
on the water dancing 
with cumulus clouds

Amsterdam shone 
in picture-book shots
dolls' house and toy town neatness
gables with hooks 
flowers, flowers, flowers
striking the eye and the ear
women in windows
sex showing live
making voyeurs perhaps of us all? 

The carillon bells with the quarter-hour chimes
must have meted and measured the days 
blacked-out, hidden, Frank family forbidden
lines on the wall
growing ever so tall

Still, her tiptoe attic window
just-a-glimpse, chestnut tree
lit by October sun
in tumbled kaleidoscope squares
as Amsterdam shone 

October 9th 2013, Bournemouth, for Marilyn, Pam and Jude